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

Target 7 got to sit down with BYD's Senior Vice President after he met with the city Thursday about its list of issues. These are some of the things we spoke about.

What was your impression of the meeting with the new administration?I don't know if the new administration really understood how fully committed we were to getting these issues resolved and we were working on them already.

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Why are you behind schedule on delivering our buses? We were supposed to receive all 20 by October. So far, we only have 10.Our U.S. division is fairly new, but the market really accelerated fast and we're victims of our own success. We did a great job selling them, and then all of a sudden, we were trying to build 400 buses.

So when do you think we'll get our remaining buses?We discussed that at length with the new administration and we agreed we'd go back and spend the next two days coming up with an absolute drop-dead this is when we're going to have it done. And once we get that information in, we'll be able to make that public.

When will we have working battery chargers?Hopefully in about 10 days, we'll have all the certifications in place and the whole issue will be done with. In the meantime, we're going to give the city a letter that definitively states we take full responsibility and any reliability related to using a generator :04

What about certifying the buses? A bus has to pass a durability test before the federal government can reimburse the city for this project.We've addressed the problematic part that's showing early signs of wear and tear. We'll now restart the test, which we hope to do in about 2 weeks. And we will retrofit all the buses you already have with the improved part.

BYD told the city a full battery charge would last 275 miles. But the city claims in their testing, it only lasts about 200 miles. Why is there a discrepancy?We stand by our 275-mile estimate. We always take into account what they're driving patterns are, how the drivers drive, what the geography is, whether they have a lot of cold days, a lot of hot days, a lot of in-between days, what the average route speeds are. All those things go into a calculation.

The city mentioned some design issues with the stations. For example, the platform height at one station isn't level with the bus height. Did BYD work with the design and construction of the stations?Our role in that was to provide them the specifications of the bus - where the door heights would be, what the ride height would be, and where the door locations would be so they could design the stations appropriately. And we provided all that data, so I think the city is going to have a deeper look at how these stations were built.

Are any of these issues going to cost us more money here in the city? Certainly not from our standpoint. we're not charging more for what's going on. We're putting the resources we need to do to get you guys up and running.